Ice blasting machine with dual-mode operation for water ice and dry ice

Abstract

An ice blasting machine comprising a crusher for crushing water ice; and a crusher-activation mechanism to activate or deactivate the crusher, wherein the crusher is activated to operate in water ice mode and wherein the crusher is deactivated to operate in dry ice mode. An ice-blasting method including activating a crusher to crush water ice when operating in water ice mode and deactivating the crusher when operating in dry ice mode.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. An ice blasting machine comprising:
 a hatch through which water ice or dry ice is loaded into a single hopper of the ice blasting machine; 
 a crusher for crushing the water ice; 
 a crusher-activation mechanism to activate or deactivate the crusher to crush the water ice when the ice blasting machine is blasting only the water ice, wherein the crusher is activated to operate when the ice blasting machine is blasting only the water ice particles and wherein the crusher is deactivated when the ice blasting machine is blasting only the dry ice such that the dry ice is not crushed by the crusher; 
 an air pump or compressed air tank for producing a high-speed stream of pressurized air; 
 an outlet hose for outputting the water ice or the dry ice that has been entrained into the high-speed stream of pressurized air from the air pump or the compressed air tank; and 
 a switch to switch between blasting only the water ice and blasting only the dry ice, wherein the switch causes the crusher-activation mechanism to activate or deactivate the crusher. 
 
     
     
       2. The ice blasting machine of  claim 1  wherein the crusher is a V-shaped crusher having two jaws. 
     
     
       3. The ice blasting machine of  claim 2  wherein the crusher-activation mechanism comprises a reversing cam clutch disengagement system. 
     
     
       4. The ice blasting machine of  claim 2  wherein the crusher-activation mechanism comprises a worm gear style crusher teeth retraction mechanism. 
     
     
       5. The ice blasting machine of  claim 2  wherein the crusher-activation mechanism comprises a lead screw style crusher tooth retraction mechanism. 
     
     
       6. The ice blasting machine of  claim 1  further comprising a portable frame having wheels. 
     
     
       7. An ice-blasting method comprising:
 providing an ice blasting machine according to  claim 1 ; 
 activating the crusher to crush the water ice the ice blasting machine is blasting only water ice; and 
 deactivating the crusher the ice blasting machine is blasting only dry ice.